


Forgetting to Breathe

by moonlup



Category: Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (Video Game)
Genre: Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-20
Updated: 2017-10-20
Packaged: 2019-01-20 04:25:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12424980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonlup/pseuds/moonlup
Summary: Spoilers for the ending of the game. Really short. Has some in game dialogue.





	Forgetting to Breathe

"As long as I have breath in my body, my fate is my own."

A bold statement made to convince himself he could withstand the darkness in the ring forever, for to be without breath was to be without life.

But even as he approached Minas Morgul, whispers crowding his thoughts, he knew he could not stand forever.

"I am not of darkness yet," he told the Witch King. "And I am not your brother."

But despite banishing him and the rest of the Ringwraiths over and over and over again, they still called to him as one. _Join with us, brother._ Called him to join them. _We welcome you to our ranks._ To let the darkness grow. _He will bring you peace._ But he remembered to breathe.

As the decades passed it grew harder to remember why he was fighting them at all. _Forget the past. Forget their faces._ Siege after siege, orc after orc raised, their bodies as cold as his own. _You will be one of us._ He rarely issued commands with his voice anymore, unnecessary effort when his army could be guided by mind against those who called him brother. _It is only a matter of time._  With so little use for it, breath began to leave him.

They were his brothers, weren't they? _You cannot resist us._ Why else could he hear them so clearly? _You chose this path._ He could barely remember his own name but he could remember them.

And, finally, one day he forgot to breathe.

When next his brothers came he went with them willingly.


End file.
